Formula 1 2018-19 off season threadFormula 1

[twitcher]

I'm not sure if that's really a fair comparison. Junior had (and still has) a level of fan engagement throughout his entire career that very few other drivers have had in any motorsport, so much so that his popularity has completely transcended his on-track performance. That's really a unique scenario, and one that I certainly can't see being replicated in a highly scrutinized area like open wheel racing.

Not meant to condemn Mick so early on of course. I certainly do hope he'll have a long and successful career ahead of him. But he doesn't really strike me as having that "face of the franchise" appeal that would prevent unwarranted criticism being heaped on him as a result of not being his dad.

Junior earned his reputation and respect of the fans throughout his career...but early in his career, and especially right after his dad died, before he was a “fan favourite” there was a tremendous amount of pressure on him to “fill Sr’s shoes.”

My point was that JR went about “filling Sr’s shoes” not by matching his win record on the track, but by how he carried himself as a person. I’m just saying that Mick is in a similar situation - he can fill his father’s shoes by winning more than him (tough ask), or he can carry himself in a way throughout his career that he adds to the Schumacher legacy (as opposed to detract from a family legacy like a Marco or Nelson jr).

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

Junior earned his reputation and respect of the fans throughout his career...but early in his career, and especially right after his dad died, before he was a “fan favourite” there was a tremendous amount of pressure on him to “fill Sr’s shoes.”

Yeah but that's been a common theme in F1 for decades now. Look at how much fan fair there was over Nico replicating his dad's championship 35 years later and the Monaco win comparison between the two. Damon Hill was another, and so was Villenuve and Brabham and others. It's almost as if the son has to eclipse or match their father in some regard to have their own greatness.

Junior (having followed and been a fan of his since Busch days) was never like his father always went about things different than his father and was a more likable personality on and away from the track. And he even talks about how his father didn't converse or work with him, and that's why even early on he made an effort to tell the people after his dad died that he wasn't going to be his dad or try to emulate or recreate that image. And he's pretty much stuck with it throughout his career even turning down offers to take over the number 3 as his personal race number.

My point was that JR went about “filling Sr’s shoes” not by matching his win record on the track, but by how he carried himself as a person. I’m just saying that Mick is in a similar situation - he can fill his father’s shoes by winning more than him (tough ask), or he can carry himself in a way throughout his career that he adds to the Schumacher legacy (as opposed to detract from a family legacy like a Marco or Nelson jr).

I disagree, Junior didn't fill any shoes because he didn't ever need to, he is his own person like his father. And I hope other drivers coming up realize the same thing, they are their own person and the idea of following the fathers footsteps should only be in lessons alone, not merits or progression of career. I don't see how Marco detracted from his family legacy especially if taken into view what I've said.

 

[jake2013guy]

Oh dear.

 

[TheElbows]

That's...bizarre.

 

[FutureF1]

Weird... also weird that they attached a personal email address to that.

As for the question. Those of us in the US who watch both can pretty much agree that Indycar is where you go for good racing. F1 is where you go for technical advancement

 

[TheElbows]

I go to F1 because it's like...a soap opera set amongst the motorsport world. I enjoy the personalities, the technical sneakery-do, etc. Indy is good racing, but it's a bit sterile (the environment, the drivers, presenters, etc.) to me. Neither touch IMSA for me.

 

[twitcher]

That’s odd to say the least. When it comes to this whole F1 vs Indycar thing, I’ll never be able to understand why people can’t just appreciate both.

 

[PeterJB]

Random thing I'd just thought of regarding launch sequences, wasn't sure where else to put it. At Suzuka the start line slopes downhill. At Interlagos the back of the grid slopes downhill and the front of the grid uphill. Without a handbrake do they have to just hold the footbrake until the lights go out and they then find the biting point, or is the clutch able to hold the car in place for hill starts?

 

[Jimlaad43]

Random thing I'd just thought of regarding launch sequences, wasn't sure where else to put it. At Suzuka the start line slopes downhill. At Interlagos the back of the grid slopes downhill and the front of the grid uphill. Without a handbrake do they have to just hold the footbrake until the lights go out and they then find the biting point, or is the clutch able to hold the car in place for hill starts?

They have to hold the brake.

 

[Samouri]

I would first like to say, as being new to this site......Hello everybody!

I'm a huge F1 fan, and prefer that, rather than Indy Cars. The only Indy Car races that I watch, are those on road courses like Road America and Mid-Ohio, which represent just 2 of the great road circuits located here in the U.S., and in Canada.

The Indy 500 is the only oval race that I watch, mainly because of tradition, and especially last year with Fernando Alonso participation in the race.

 

[Supaboost]

Any chance the Williams car will be good ?

Really hoping Kubicas comeback is a movie worthy success.

 

[TheElbows]

At this point it's a kind of morbid race to the bottom between Williams and McLaren. If anything, it gives us something to think about it and watch - see if either of these legendary companies can pull their collective thumbs out and get something done.

 

[mustafur]

The weird thing is both still have a Budget Advantage over most of the Midfield, so it's all down to poor management.

 

[twitcher]

That didn’t take long

https://johnwallstreet.com/formula-one-for-sale/

 

[DesertPenguin]

Oh boy...

 

[twitcher]

Bernie gonna buy F1 back for a fraction of the cost he sold it for? Lotta people who don’t like Liberty been “begging for Bernie to take the reigns again”....they may get what they wished for

 

[EngieDiesel]

I guess the obvious question now is, does Bernie even want to take F1 back in its current state?

 

[twitcher]

We could always start a GTP go-fund-me page and try to buy it ourselves.

Lucas di Grassi already giving it a shot

 

[Kowhai]

That didn’t take long

https://johnwallstreet.com/formula-one-for-sale/

This articles title is incorrect. Exploring scenarios ≠ for sale.

 

[EngieDiesel]

This articles title is incorrect. Exploring scenarios ≠ for sale.

Corporations don't expend the resources to investigate selloff options just out of casual curiosity. It may not be panic time yet, but this does mean that they're serious about finding a way out at some point in the near future.

And considering that Liberty has missed their intended targets for the series like the article mentioned, an increasingly unpopular regulation change is around the corner and possibly they've just now realized they bought into motorsports at a time when motorsports is on an overall downswing in popularity, it's not unthinkable that they want to cut their losses before the organic waste strikes the ventilation device.

 

[twitcher]

Not looking like a great week for F1, although I’m sure this isn’t too out of the ordinary.



Edit:
A more complete article regarding the promoters’s concerns.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/47040731

 

[Dotini]

FOPA is headed by British Grand Prix promoter Stuart Pringle, and stakeholders in the United Kingdom have been voicing concerns over a Bernie Ecclestone-signed deal that sees F1 moving away from free-to-air television to Sky Sports, with only the British GP to be broadcast on Channel 4 this season.

With regard to new races — of which there are none this season — only Hanoi is confirmed as joining the calendar in 2020, but Pringle told the Daily Mail that Liberty’s attempts to deliver a grand prix in Miami had annoyed existing promoters.

“Everyone is disgruntled,” Pringle said. “Liberty’s ideas are disjointed.

“We have all been compliant and quiet hitherto but we have great concerns about the future health of the sport under the people who run it now.

“Miami are seemingly getting a free deal. That has not gone down well with anyone, not least with the guys at Austin, Texas, who are working hard to make their race pay.

“If this continues, Formula 1 will be racing on second-rate circuits, if any at all.”

Silverstone is due to host the last race of its current contract this season, having triggered a break clause in attempts to renegotiate its previous deal — originally signed with Ecclestone back in 2009 — with Liberty. Races in Monza, Hockenheim, Barcelona and Mexico City are all also in the final year of their respective contracts.
https://racer.com/2019/01/29/f1-race-promoters-criticize-libertys-ownership/

a disgruntled promoter headed straight for a Fleet Street newspaper – one with an enormous global online presence – to distribute their comments on Monday is also an approach right out of the Ecclestone playbook.

Liberty has to dig in and implement significant changes if it wants to retain control. Allow itself to be bullied, be it by promoters or by the teams when it comes to the agreements beyond 2021, and the sport really will lack direction, because those doing the bullying are predominantly focused on their own interests.
https://racer.com/2019/01/29/medland-everybodys-scared-of-change/

 

[TenEightyOne]

The formula-around-the-formula for Formula 1 is new and old while going faster but slower. More money needs to be made while charging less money. Teams need to be equal while being excitingly unequal.

It's literally as simple as that. Bernie was bad for the viewer experience in many ways but at time like this the method to his madness seems a little clearer.

 

[mustafur]

Ricciardo says how Red bull treated the Baku incident was a factor in him leaving, suggesting the fact they where punished equally even though Ricciardo thinks it wasn't an equal blame incident.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.ne...e/news-story/96d2f051de7a639f71c6467a09a6dcbd

Imo I said it at the time the crash was clearly Verstappens fault he moved twice and the second move made sure there was a collision, but even before that I don't think any top team would allow a battle that aggressive continue as Ricciardo was much faster and they hit each other already before that crash, Ricciardo probably felt that had the sceniaro been reversed he would of been told to move over.

 

[TheElbows]

Liberty is fighting an uphill battle with the entrenched current F1 old guard. The article was essentially nonsense, as Liberty is simply interested in additional stakeholders to reduce risk, and free up capital to continue investing in other ventures, etc.

Everything I've read is more or less Liberty being hemmed in by old entrenched methods in F1 - all of which are bad for the sport. We've been in a consistent downward trend for F1 for a decade or more, haven't we? Ticket sales have been poor, TV numbers pretty poor, etc. F1 is just running on legacy and not actual excitement, or modern performance.

Maybe F1 should fall apart, if only to be built into a more modern series. We'll see.

 

[mustafur]

Everything Liberty has done pretty much since taking over has been a positive for the sport, the YT channel specifically is a massive step up on what F1 had before as the views and engagement are pretty insane, before liberty you had to go back to the Senna Movie to get footage of the driver briefing, yet they have shown several since.

 

[TenEightyOne]

And Vettel is off. Already. And I've just learnt that the tagline for Ferrari's sponsor is "MissionWinNow", not "MissionWinnow". Obviously the second was a terrible word to use in the context of a state-of-the-art race car but I really really thought that's what it was

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

And Vettel is off. Already. And I've just learnt that the tagline for Ferrari's sponsor is "MissionWinNow", not "MissionWinnow". Obviously the second was a terrible word to use in the context of a state-of-the-art race car but I really really thought that's what it was

I thought it was obvious it was Mission Win Now, but people didn't like it because it was a bit I guess negative? As if Ferrari needed to win now or else...

 

[TenEightyOne]

I thought it was obvious it was Mission Win Now, but people didn't like it because it was a bit I guess negative? As if Ferrari needed to win now or else...

I guess so, but a winnow (or to winnow) was even worse, suggests a slightly pathetic wheeze.

It's worth noting that even their website calls it "Mission Winnow".

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

Well if missing one day of testing wasn't bad enough, Williams will miss day two as well...great start to the season for the folks at Grove